Missing But Not Forgotten #1

Here's the start of another occasional theme which will highlight some of the scenes that nowadays get routinely edited out of long running dramas shown on repeat channels when they are re-targeted to make them suitable for an intended pre-watershed audience.  Often the bulk of the episodes are entirely suitable and so the odd one or two that aren't are adjusted to fit in.

Mainly these channels are ITV3 and The Drama Channel.   And even when one of those channels has another showing of the same episode after midnight they often still seem to lazily use the same daytime friendly version of the episode.  Although I've only occasionaly checked this because once bitten ...

That isn't to say these channels edit everything and when a programme is intended for post-watershed viewing usually things seem to be left alone.

I'll start off with one where it might come as a surprise that it had any nudity at all:-

Rumpole of the Bailey

I'm aware of two episodes of this ITV series that originally had topless nudity.  Both of them were from the 5th series in 1988.

When the Drama Channel recently showed this series in their daytime schedules, I watched the two episodes in question just to see how they would (presumably) circumvent the nudity.

In Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation, Claude Erksine-Brown goes into a strip club and a newspaper hack gets a compromising photo of him ogling a stripper which gets printed in a newspaper.  In the edited version we see him enter the club but don't see any of the events that go on inside, which are implied-only by the subsequent newspaper story.  The performer playing the stripper was uncredited.

Unknown in "The Bubble Reputation"

In Rumpole and the Quality of Life, the episode opens with Helen Fitzgerald (as Lady Perdita Derwent) who is sitting topless posing for her much older artist husband Sir Daniel Derwent (William Squire) while his resentful daughter Helen (Caroline Goodall) from his first marriage, who is older than Perdita, snipes at her.  The full episode includes close-up shots of Helen Fitzgerald topless which were all missing although one brief topless long shot was left in - the whole scene couldn't have been easily cut entirely because it was an important scene setter which established the family dynamics when later Perdita is defended by Rumpole for the possible murder of Sir Daniel.

Helen Fitzgerald in "The Quality of Life"

The episodes are complete on the DVD release.

Worthy Site Footnotes #7

Here are some more Site Footnotes:-


Lucinda Dryzek in BBC1 sitcom Life Of Riley from 2011.
The bottom row has magnified versions of some of the frames

Michelle Dockery in BBC2's Shakespeare series The Hollow Crown from 2012.

Rarity Showcase: Susannah Doyle in Breakfast

Here is Susannah Doyle in scenes from an obscure short film called "Breakfast".

Breakfast was a 9-minute film made in 1988 by students of the National Film and Television School (NFTS).

It is known about because it received a television airing in an edition of the Thames Television arts programme First Run broadcast in 1989.

The episode featured three shorts made by first year students of the NFTS as an exercise in collaboration and self-expression.  The programme explains that they were given a poem by French poet Jacques Prévert called Breakfast and asked to make a film on the subject.  Eleven films were made and three of them were showcased in the programme.  It was the first serious attempts at filmmaking by the students involved.

Although the film did not include any cast credits, Susannah Doyle has been recognised.
Her appearance in Breakfast is not shown on IMDB but by way of an independent confirmation of her involvement it IS shown on her listing in a 1994 edition of Who's Who on Television.

Susannah Doyle found TV fame a few years after this as "Joy" in C4 comedy Drop The Dead Donkey from 1991-1998

Scene Description: Topless with her right breast seen as she wakes up on a hot morning beside a man with his head resting on her chest - then fully topless as he rolls off of her and she recalls the drunken details of the night before - then full frontal nudity laying in bed after the man gets out of bed - then rear nudity and full frontal nudity and she gets out of bed and stands by a fan and puts on an open shirt - then she lays down on the bed and flicks through a magazine listening to the noises outside which are aggravating her hangover - then lower nudity laying on her side in bed as it starts to rain and thunder outside.

Short Films Featured in First Run
1. "Les Maladroits" - Directed by Shoko Omori  (in B&W and French)
2. "Breakfast" by Linda Hassani
3. "The Soulful Shack" by John Roberts

The only one with any nudity was "Breakfast"


Text of the poem "Breakfast" by Jacques Prévert can be found here.   (http://hellopoetry.com/poem/15459/breakfast/)


Susannah Doyle also had a topless scene in a 45-minute black comedy called Hero Hungry shown on C4 on 19 July 1990.  It was also made by the NFTS.  It was shown at 11:50pm which perhaps explains why it remains elusive in collector's circles because not many people watched/recorded it.  I've only seen a very brief mute clip from it which shows her opening up her shirt in an office for reasons that can't be determined from the clip because there is no preamble included.